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    Pretty Little Liars #6: Killer
    Pretty Little Liars #6: Killer
    Pretty Little Liars #6: Killer
    Ebook308 pages4 hours

    Pretty Little Liars #6: Killer

    By Sara Shepard

    4/5

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    About this ebook

    #1 New York Times bestselling series

    The sixth book in the #1 New York Times bestselling series that inspired the hit ABC Family TV show Pretty Little Liars.

    Hanna, Aria, Spencer, and Emily have been lying ever since they became friends with beautiful Alison DiLaurentis. And their bad-girl ways didn't die with her. Hanna's on a mission to corrupt Rosewood's youth, starting with a very attractive sophomore. Aria's snooping into her boyfriend's past. Spencer's stealing—from her family. And pure little Emily's abstaining from abstinence. The girls should be careful, though. There's a new A in town turning up the heat. And this time Rosewood is going to burn.

    Full of unexpected twists and shocking revelations, Killer is the sixth book in New York Times bestselling author Sara Shepard’s compelling Pretty Little Liars series. 
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperTeen
    Release dateJun 30, 2009
    ISBN9780061919718
    Author

    Sara Shepard

    Sara Shepard graduated from NYU and has an MFA from Brooklyn College. She currently lives in Philadelphia,Pennsylvania. Sara's Pretty Little Liars novels were inspired by her upbringing in Philadelphia's Main Line. All the Things We Didn’t Say is her first novel for adults.

    Read more from Sara Shepard

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    Reviews for Pretty Little Liars #6

    4/5

    255 ratings18 reviews

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    • 4/5
      I thought this would be about Emily (killer) and I kinda felt like it was. But I don't really like her... Emily and Hanna are the only two I feel bad for. (H getting a new phone and E telling Isaac-spelling?) Spencer and Aria just keep on hiding things and sneaking around and stuff. Loved the book though. I totally can relate to Aria and Hanna they are my fav. I *hate* Kate.
    • 4/5
      Book review by Bryn, posted by CA Library:"Killer by Sara Shepard is the sixth book in the Pretty Little Liars series. The narrative mode is 2nd person. It is mystery. The protagonists of this story are Hanna, Aria, Spencer, and Emily. This story starts when the girls were in sixth grade and on of their best friends, Ali, was tragically murdered. After Ali got murdered, the girls all receiving text messages from an anonymous someone who signed all the texts “-A”. The girls are now juniors in high school, and still receiving texts from “A”. When the girls first starting getting the texts, they were just signed “A” and nothing more. The girls thought it was just some random person who wasn’t even in the same state as them. But as the years went on, “A” was sending texts that could tell the girls were definitely being watched. But not from a distance. The girls spent four years trying to figure out who “A” was. They still hadn’t found out. And the texts continued, but now, the texts are getting threatening. The girls are getting close to finding out who “A” is but they need more clues. And that’s where the story ended. Killer by Sara Shepard, was such a good book. I highly recommend this to anyone who wants a good mystery. Overall, I give this book four and a half out of five stars."
    • 4/5
      In Killer, the girls are still being tracked by new “A” and still following clues to find Ali’s real killer. This is a transitional book in the series. There are only two books left and we are building up to the final conclusion. In this book, the girls have their own personal dramas that they are dealing with. These are interesting stories, but the “A” plot does not progress as much as usual.The girls have lost the trust of the police so they are on their own researching Ali’s killer. “A” is still around providing clues and causing mischief. Hanna gets a new iphone and number so “A” can not reach her. Why wouldn’t they all change their number?Spencer suspects she was adopted and goes in search of her real mother. Spencer is not one of my favorites but I felt so bad for her in this storyline. Emily and Isaac’s relationship is progressing, much to the outrage of Isaac’s mother. Not sure what that is about, is she a suspect? It doesn’t seem like this is going anywhere. Hanna gets a crush on an adorable younger man at school, and evil stepsister-to-be Kate continues her mind games with Hanna. Meanwhile, Aria acts on her long-time infatuation with (another) older man. The connection between Jason, Wilden, Melissa and Jenna is looking more suspicious. All of them seem to be suspects – could they have killed Ali?The ending is a huge game-changing cliffhanger! What is going to happen next in Heartless? I can’t wait to find out.
    • 2/5
      This used to be one of my favorite series. I'm not sure why I read it anymore. I think it could have been wrapped up really neatly in one or two books, and now it's been spun out too far.
    • 4/5
      Sometimes it upsets me how addicting these books are. I'm not even sure why I like them, I just NEED to know what happens in the end. I do love the four main characters though, because each one is shown to actually have a heart at some point in each book, and I'm a sucker for people generally being "good" deep down inside.
    • 5/5
       This was, by far, the most emotional Pretty Little Liars book yet. Infact one part made me cry. Killer is about the four girls, Hanna, Spencer, Emily, and Aria, trying to figure out how the hell Ian's dead body disappeared. They saw it in the woods and ran to get Wilden the cop assigned to keep guard on a party. But when they got back, there was no body. the police searched for days and couldn't find anything. Now, it's up to the girls to figure out what happened. Did Ian play a trick on them to distract the cops so he could get out of town? That would be the logical explanation to his disappearance and the sketchy IMs Spencer has been recieving. but, the girls are too hung up in their own problems to figure out what went wrong. Hanna's battling with her step sister over Mike Montgomery, Aria's brother, and causing more drama than there needs to be. Aria's dating Jason Dilaurentis, and then finds out that he was a patient in a mental hospital and may be connected to Ali's murder. Emily's being shunned out of her boyfriends house after being caught in his bedroom by his mother, and now that his mom hates her she doesn't know what to do. And, of course Spencer and her so called "mommy" just met after being spereated for over 17 years. BUt it really her mom or did "A" set up an other on of their conniving, sick little games?Spencer's story is just so sad, it made me cry. She just found out she was adopted and now she finally reconnected with her biological mother! She is everything she dreamed she would be, and she got so excited that someone actually loves her that she buys a house right down the street from her. But, she then finds out that her "mom's" address was fake and that the realtor that she bough tthe house from doesn't exist, so she checks into her bank account only to find out that her balance is 0$. Did her mom cheat her out of her money, or was this just a big misunderstanding??At the end of the book, there is a huge twist! it is so big and completely changes the mood of the book. I'm not even going to give you a hint on what it is because i was completely in awe when i read the very last sentence. This was the major reason why i gave this book a 4.5/5 stars. it was absolutely exhilarating, and every page captivated me. I am so excited to go into school tomorrow and check out the next book in the series, Heartless, to see what happens.Once again Sarah Shepard amazes me with her talent in writing and ability to create a massive amount of tension in just one sentence, which you will see when you read this wonderful book!
    • 4/5
      If your a fan of the series, it's a great book in the series. Spencer is in a romance with Andrew, her long-time rival, while exploring the posssibility of being adopted since her Grandmother's will only included "natural birthed" grandchildren. Emily gets confused with her new boyfriend Issac's Mom's reactions. Aria is trying to avoid her Mom and her new boyfriend who's into her. Hanna is forced to bond with her step-sister Kate while trying to get Mike Montgomery, Aria's younger brother. While all this is going on, Ian suddenly doesn't seem so dead or so guilty and they get one more step closer to finding out what really happened to Ali. The media is hounding the, as is A, and possibly other people... Full of surprises and the cliff-hanger ending just leaves you wanting more. Was it smoke inhalation? Sara Shepard does kind of drag this on and really uses this book as a continuation of the plot and the only really important parts are the thigs that happen with Jason, Wilden, and the fire. The drama is nice, but some of it's just kind of there.
    • 3/5
      Knowing how many of these books there are; I was worried going into this one, the sixth, that the tension wouldn't be as great as it had been in earlier novels. And it's not. I get the feeling Sara Shepard is now trying to drag out what was originally a good idea and it's just becoming more and more implausible. At the start; it was believable. Four girls, haunted by messages from their dead best friend with no idea what was going on. But now, it's all about a massive conspiracy. Ali is alive and Wilden, the cop, is a bad guy; who I suspected from page one of this novel. If he was meant to come off as anything other than a creep in this book, I didn't get it.More annoyingly, the parents get worse. Aria's afraid to tell her mother that her boyfriend is a pervy creepy because she thinks her mother will be mad at her. A normal mother, which Ella is shown to be, would most definitely NOT pick a new man over her own child, let alone a creepy one who tries to hit on Aria. Spencer's parents, more specifically her mother, are hideous to her. Laughing when something goes wrong for her; enjoying her pain. Like a mean sister, not a parent.Hanna's father doesn't believe a word she says yet takes everything his step-daughter says as Gospel. I don't believe that. Especially since it's pointed out many times in each book that Hanna and her father once had a very close relationship.Emily's parents seem to be the only normal ones, but they aren't in book 6 very much, and we still have 3 more to go.Now I'm starting to worry the story is going to try and advance on itself, become bigger and bigger than it was originally going to be and thus creating an utterly unrealistic story that started out with so much promise. A, or whoever it is sending the messages, is now everywhere. Telling Spencer she's adopted, setting her up to meet her fake-real mother in NY and buy a fake apartment, thus losing all her money. So A has to have some sort of business going on. No longer is it a mean girl dishing out the dirt on her former friends; which was the appeal of the books in the first place. Now it's turning into something else, and I for one do not like it.
    • 5/5
      The suspense and mystery continues in the sixth book of the Pretty Little Liars series. The four girls still don't know who killed their friend and they think that maybe this time A is trying to help them, but they don't really know who to trust.
    • 5/5
      it was really good, and it made you want to keep reading and made you want more
    • 4/5
      This is the sixth Pretty Little Liars book; I only have two left and they're the shortest ones in the series. (Apparently book 8 isn't even 300 pages, according to Amazon.)This book is a total game changer--everything we thought was true up to this point turns out to be false and people we thought we could trust we can't. Of course, this could all be turned around by the time I'm a chapter or two into book seven, so we'll see.I'm still really enjoying this series and I think I can say now that I definitely prefer them to the series. (Although I love the series and although the two books that are left are running the very real chance of becoming completely ridiculous.)
    • 2/5
      This book was not my favorite of the series, I really didn't enjoy it as I was reading it and I think that is because I couldn't wait to get to the end of the book to see who the killer was. After reading all 6 books I was dieing to know. Only to be disappointed in the end to have the book end with the excerpt of the next book. I thought for sure that this would be the last in the series, but it's not. I'm not sure if I will read the next book, I will have to wait for it to come out and see. I think the 6 books were enough and that the series should have ended, everything is kind of repeating itself now. But it is still a great series. This is probably my most negative review, and for one of my favorite series. But I think everyone gets those right? :)
    • 5/5
      When I first began reading the first book in this series (Pretty Little Liars), I thought it'd be a typical, cliche, light read. Well, I was definitely proved wrong.It's much more of a thriller sometimes than a light read, though it always includes some romance, suspense, and much more.The four main characters: Aria, Spencer, Hanna, and Emily are so different, you're able to relate to at least one of them.The twists and turns are thrilling and sometimes unexpected, always ending with a frustrating cliffhanger that will immediately leave you wanting to buy the next book.Killer was no different, though it's much more focused on Ali's murder than the new "A" and the girls' secrets. As always, I was left wanting to immediately read the next book: Heartless.
    • 4/5
      I have read every book in the Pretty Little Liars series and I absolutely love all of them. When I first encountered them, I thought they were going to be superficial, ridiculous teenage love stories. This series completely went against that. I was instantly tied in with the unresolved murder of the character, Ali, that winds it's way through each book. Although it has some soppy, teenage moments, this series definitely holds you on the edge of your seat. I would even go as far as to recommend reading it during the daylight hours because some parts of this series had me feeling a little scared. Sara Shepard creates tension between the group of friends that allows the mysterious A to manipulate them in every way possible. I love each and every one of these books and would one hundred percent recommend them to any of my friends.
    • 4/5
      I started reading the Pretty Little Liars series earlier this year. Each book ended with a cliff hanger and I couldn’t wait to read what happened next with “A”. I enjoyed these books so much, I read them consecutively. The only problem was I had to wait a few months for Killer’s release.Now that I finished Killer, I have to say I was worth the wait. It immediately began where Wicked concluded: the night of the Rosewood Day benefit held at Spencer’s house. Spencer discovered Ian in the woods and when she later returned with the police, Ian was gone. He simply vanished. (I don’t want to say more to prevent spoilers). While the police continue to search for Ian based on the details provided by Spencer, Aria, Hanna and Emily, they begin to wonder if these four girls fabricated their stories for attention.Like the previous novels, Killer begins with a flashback. In this flashback the reader learns how the four girls became friends with Ali. Emily, Aria, Hanna and Spencer all have the idea of stealing Ali’s piece of the Time Capsule flag. This is a tradition at Rosewood Day: the principal cuts the Rosewood Day flag into pieces, the upperclassmen hides the pieces around town, while the teachers post clues to their locations. When someone finds a piece, he/she can decorate it. When all the pieces are found, the flag is sewn back together and is buried in the Time Capsule. The students who find the pieces are known to be legends in the school’s history. The twist to the game is another student can steal a piece from the original student who found it. Which is what Hanna, Emily, Aria and Spencer plan to do with Ali’s piece.This flashback is significant to the story. The reader learns what REALLY happened to Ali’s stolen flag piece and why it’s so important to her disappearance and death. As each girl continues to receive threatening texts from “A”, they decide to investigate the events leading to Ali’s death. As they dig deeper, they stumble on a new twist that will erase everything they knew about their friendship with Ali.What makes this story so addicting to me is how the Ms. Shepard uses the girls’ individual stories to add to the mystery behind Ali’s death and “A’s” hold on them. Each girl struggles with a secret, insecurity, problem, etc. “A” sends them text messages to manipulate them into doing what “A” wants by threatening to expose their secrets. Each girl discovers more clues about their friendship with Ali. The reader can’t help but to wonder are these legitimate clues or just part of “A’s” game? It’s so hard to tell, but that’s what keeps me reading. I WANT TO KNOW! The twists and turns are plenty in this series and just when the reader thinks he/she knows what will happen next, guess again.Killer’s ending took me by surprise! The cliff hanger was shocking and left me speechless. Of course, I had more questions and wondered did THAT just really happen or is this just another twist? Again, I must wait to have my questions answered. Heartless, book seven, will be released in 2010. Killer is a must read for fans of the Pretty Little Liars series.
    • 5/5
      SPOILER ALERT: If you haven’t read the first 5 books of the Pretty Little Liars series do not read any further.Hanna, Aria, Spencer, and Emily thought things would get better when A was killed. They were wrong. The original A might be gone but now there is someone new who knows there secrets and they want something in return for their silence.Hanna has a new mission now. Her only goal now that she doesn’t have Lucas is to get back at Kate for stealing her father’s affection and her friends. It seems like the perfect way to do that is to get steal the guy that Kate wants right from under her nose but in the end, who is playing who?Aria can’t stand being in the same house as Xavier, her mom’s new boyfriend, so she decides to move into her father’s new house. Her goal isn’t to hurt her mom but she doesn’t know how else to fix what happened. She knows if she tells her mom it will ruin their relationship for good but could moving closer to the woods where Ian disappeared be a dangerous mistake?Spencer thought her life was only going to get better since she found out she was adopted and at first things seem great. She gets a message from a young woman who lives in New York saying that she is her mom. When she meets her, her life seems to be looking up. She is this hip young woman who looks exactly like Spencer. Now all Spencer wants to do is move to the city to be closer to her but is she moving too fast without really looking at what’s in front of her?Emily finally has everything great in her life. She is dating the perfect guy and she is almost ready to tell her family about him. Things are great in their relationship and they only get better once they take the relationship to the next level. Well things seem to get better between them but not between Emily and his mom. Emily knows she knows what they did but how can she convince Isaac that she isn’t just imagining the hostility coming from his mom and could she ruin their relationship in the process?WOW. This book was such a shocker from the last one. It was definitely better than some of the earlier ones in the series because it had so much more mystery and things going on. Sometimes it seems like there is too much going on but not this time. It was just so suspenseful and kept me guessing till the very end. And I have to say that the end was a major surprise for me.The Pretty Little Liars books have been some of my favorites from the very beginning. They were just so different than anything I have read before and I love finding books like that. These were also some of the first books that I got my friends to read and they all loved them too.The story in the Pretty Little Liars series seems like it would be horrible because the girls are all so superficial but it’s not like that at all. The girls all seem to grow throughout each book and they learn things about each other and themselves from everything A does to them. The whole story just seems to grow deeper and more involved with each new book and I can’t wait for the seventh.The Pretty Little Liars series is a little longer seeing as there are already six books but they are worth it. If you haven’t read them yet I strongly urge you to pick up a copy of the first book. You will probably be just as hooked as I am.
    • 3/5
      Pretty sure I want to kill off all the parents in the whole series after this book. I also kind of wish I hadn't spoiled the end of the series by reading ahead so the end of this particular book could've shocked me more.
    • 5/5
      This book left me gasping at the end!!

    Book preview

    Pretty Little Liars #6 - Sara Shepard

    1

    THE GIRL WHO CRIED DEAD BODY

    Spencer Hastings shivered in the frigid, late-evening air, ducking to avoid a thorny briar branch. This way, she called over her shoulder, pushing into the woods behind her family’s large, converted farmhouse. This was where we saw him.

    Her old best friends Aria Montgomery, Emily Fields, and Hanna Marin followed quickly behind. All of the girls teetered haphazardly in their high heels, holding the hems of their party dresses—it was Saturday night, and before this, they’d been at a Rosewood Day benefit at Spencer’s house. Emily was whimpering, her face streaked with tears. Aria’s teeth were chattering, the way they always did when she was afraid. Hanna wasn’t making any sounds, but her eyes were huge and she was brandishing a large silver candlestick she’d grabbed from the Hastingses’ dining room. Officer Darren Wilden, the town’s youngest cop, trailed after them, beaming a flashlight at the wrought-iron fence that separated Spencer’s yard from the one that had once belonged to Alison DiLaurentis.

    He’s in this clearing, right down this trail, Spencer called. It had started to snow, first wispy flurries, but harder now—fat, wet flakes. To Spencer’s left was her family’s barn, the very last place Spencer and her friends had seen Ali alive three and a half years ago. To her right was the half-dug hole where Ali’s body had been found in September. Straight ahead was the clearing where she’d just discovered the dead body of Ian Thomas, her sister’s old boyfriend, Ali’s secret love, and Ali’s killer.

    Well, maybe Ali’s killer.

    Spencer had been so relieved when the cops arrested Ian for Ali’s murder. It all made sense: the last day of seventh grade, Ali had given him an ultimatum that either he break up with Melissa, Spencer’s sister, or Ali was going to tell the world they were together. Fed up with her games, Ian had met up with Ali that night. His fury and frustration had gotten the best of him…and he’d killed her. Spencer had even seen Ali and Ian in the woods the night she died, a traumatic memory she had suppressed for three and a half long years.

    But the day before Ian’s trial was set to start, Ian had broken his house arrest and sneaked onto Spencer’s patio, begging her not to testify against him. Someone else had killed Ali, he insisted, and he was on the verge of uncovering a disturbing, mind-blowing secret that would prove his innocence.

    The problem was, Ian never got to tell Spencer what the big secret was—he vanished before the opening statements of his trial last Friday. As the entire Rosewood Police Department sprang into action, combing the county to find out where he might have gone, everything Spencer thought was true was thrown into question. Had Ian done it…or hadn’t he? Had Spencer seen him out there with Ali…or had she seen someone else? Then, just minutes ago at the party, someone by the name of Ian_T had sent Spencer a text. Meet me in the woods where she died, it said. I have something to show you.

    Spencer had run through the woods, anxious to figure it all out. When she came to a clearing, she looked down and screamed. Ian was lying there, bloated and blue, his eyes glassy and lifeless. Aria, Hanna, and Emily had shown up just then, and moments later they’d all received the same exact text message from the new A. He had to go.

    They’d run back into Spencer’s to find Wilden, but he hadn’t been anywhere in the house. When Spencer went out to the circular driveway to check one more time, Wilden was suddenly there, standing near the valet-parked cars. When he saw her, he gave her a startled look, as if she’d caught him doing something illicit. Before Spencer could demand where Wilden had been, the others ran up in hysterics, breathlessly urging him to follow them into the woods. And now, here they were.

    Spencer stopped, recognizing a familiar gnarled tree. There was the old stump. There was the tamped-down grass. The air had an eerie static, oxygenless quality. This is it, she called over her shoulder. She looked down at the ground, bracing herself for what she was about to see.

    Oh my God, Spencer whispered.

    Ian’s body was…gone.

    She took a dizzy step back, clutching her hand to her head. She blinked hard and looked again. Ian’s body had been here a half hour ago, but now the spot was bare except for a fine layer of snow. But…how was that possible?

    Emily clapped her hands over her mouth and made a gurgling sound. Spencer, she whispered urgently.

    Aria let out a cross between a moan and a shriek. Where is he? she cried, looking around the woods frantically. "He was just here."

    Hanna’s face was pale. She didn’t say a word.

    Behind them was an eerie, high-pitched squawking sound. Everyone jumped, and Hanna gripped the candlestick tightly. It was only Wilden’s walkie-talkie, which was attached to his belt. He gazed at the girls’ expressions, and then at the empty spot on the ground.

    Maybe you have the wrong place, Wilden said.

    Spencer shook her head, feeling pressure rising up into her chest. "No. He was here." She staggered crookedly down the shallow slope and knelt on the half-thawed grass. Some of it seemed flattened, as if something weighty had recently been lying there. She reached out her fingers to touch the ground, but then pulled back, afraid. She couldn’t bring herself to touch a place where a dead body had just been.

    Maybe Ian was hurt, not dead. Wilden fidgeted with one of the metal snaps on his jacket. Maybe he ran away after you left.

    Spencer widened her eyes, daring to consider the possibility.

    Emily shook her head fast. "There was no way he was just hurt."

    He was definitely dead, Hanna agreed shakily. He was…blue.

    Maybe someone moved the body, Aria piped up. We’ve been gone from the woods for over a half hour. That would’ve given someone time.

    "There was someone else out here, Hanna whispered. They stood over me when I fell."

    Spencer whirled around and stared at her. What? Sure, the last half hour had been crazed, but Hanna should have said something.

    Emily gaped at Hanna too. Did you see who it was?

    Hanna gulped loudly. Whoever it was had a hood on. I think it was a guy, but I guess I don’t know. Maybe he dragged Ian’s body somewhere else.

    Maybe it was A, Spencer said, her heart thudding in her chest. She reached into her jacket pocket, pulled out her Sidekick, and showed A’s menacing text to Wilden. He had to go.

    Wilden glanced at Spencer’s phone, then handed it back to her. His mouth was taut. I don’t know how many ways I have to say this. Mona is dead. This A is a copycat. Ian escaping is hardly a secret—the whole country knows about it.

    Spencer exchanged an uneasy glance with the others. This past fall, Mona Vanderwaal, a classmate and Hanna’s best friend, had sent the girls twisted, torturous messages signed A. Mona had ruined their lives in countless ways, and she’d even plotted to kill them, hitting Hanna with her SUV and almost pushing Spencer off the cliff at Floating Man Quarry. After Mona slipped off the cliff herself, they thought they were safe…but last week they began receiving sinister messages from a new A. Originally, they thought the A notes were from Ian, as they’d started getting them only after he’d been released from prison on temporary bail. But Wilden was skeptical. He kept telling them that was impossible—Ian didn’t have access to a cell phone, nor could he have freely skulked around while under house arrest, watching the girls’ every move.

    A is real, Emily protested, shaking her head desperately. What if A is Ian’s killer? And what if A dragged Ian away?

    Maybe A is Ali’s killer too, Hanna added, still holding the candlestick tightly.

    Wilden licked his lips, looking unsettled. Big flakes of snow were landing on the top of his head, but he didn’t wipe them away. "Girls, you’re getting hysterical. Ian is Ali’s killer. You of all people should know that. We arrested him on the evidence you gave us."

    What if Ian was framed? Spencer pressed. What if A killed Ali and Ian found out? And what if that’s something the cops are covering up? she almost added. It was a theory Ian had suggested.

    Wilden traced his fingers around the Rosewood PD badge embroidered on his coat. Did Ian feed you that load of crap during his visit to your porch on Thursday, Spencer?

    Spencer’s stomach dropped. How did you know?

    Wilden glared at her. I just got a phone call from the station. We got a tip. Someone saw you two talking.

    Who?

    It was anonymous.

    Spencer felt dizzy. She looked at her friends—she’d told them and only them that she and Ian had secretly met-but they looked clueless and shocked. There was only one other person who knew she and Ian had met. A.

    Why didn’t you come to us as soon as it happened? Wilden leaned closer to Spencer. His breath smelled like coffee. We would’ve dragged Ian back to jail. He never would’ve escaped.

    A threatened me, Spencer protested. She searched through her phone’s inbox and showed Wilden that note from A, too. If poor little Miss Not-So-Perfect suddenly vanished, would anyone even care?

    Wilden rocked back and forth on his heels. He stared hard at the ground where Ian had been not an hour ago and sighed. Look, I’ll go back to the house and get a team together. But you can’t blame everything on A.

    Spencer glanced at the walkie on his hip. Why don’t you radio them from here? she pressured. You can have them meet you in the woods and start looking right now.

    An uncomfortable look came over Wilden’s face, as if he hadn’t anticipated this question. Just let me do my job, girls. We have to follow…procedure.

    Procedure? Emily echoed.

    Oh my God, Aria breathed. He doesn’t believe us.

    I believe you, I believe you. Wilden ducked around a few low-hanging branches. But the best thing you girls can do is go home and get some rest. I’ll handle this from here.

    The wind gusted, fluttering the ends of the gray wool scarf Spencer had looped around her neck before running out here. A sliver of moon peeked out from the fog. In seconds, none of them could see Wilden’s flashlight anymore. Was it just Spencer’s imagination, or had he seemed eager to get away from them? Was he just worried about Ian’s body being somewhere in the woods…or was it because of something else?

    She turned and stared hard at the empty ravine, willing Ian’s body to return from wherever it had gone. She’d never forget how one eye bugged open, and the other seemed glued shut. His neck was twisted at an unnatural angle. And he’d still been wearing his platinum Rosewood Day class ring on his right hand, its blue stone glinting in the moonlight.

    The other girls were looking at the empty space too. Then, there was a crack, far off in the woods. Hanna grabbed Spencer’s arm. Emily let out an eep. They all froze, waiting. Spencer could hear her heart thudding in her ears.

    I want to go home, Emily cried.

    Everyone immediately nodded—they’d all been thinking the same thing. Until the Rosewood police started searching, they weren’t safe out here alone.

    They followed their footsteps back to Spencer’s house. Once they were out of the ravine, Spencer spotted the thin golden beam of Wilden’s flashlight far ahead, bouncing off the tree trunks. She stopped, her heart jumping to her throat all over again. Guys, she whispered, pointing.

    Wilden’s flashlight snapped off fast, as if he sensed they had seen him. His footsteps grew more and more muffled and distant, until the sound vanished altogether. He wasn’t heading back toward Spencer’s house to get a search team, like he’d said he was going to do. No, he was quickly creeping deeper into the woods…in exactly the opposite direction.

    2

    WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND

    The following morning, Aria sat at the yellow Formica table in her father’s tiny kitchen in Old Hollis, the college town next to Rosewood, eating a bowl of Kashi GoLean doused in soy milk and attempting to read the Philadelphia Sentinel. Her father, Byron, had already completed the crossword puzzle, and there were inky smudges on the pages.

    Meredith, Byron’s ex-student and current fiancée, was in the living room, which was right next to the kitchen. She’d lit a few sticks of patchouli incense, making the whole apartment smell like a head shop. The soothing strains of crashing waves and cawing seagulls tinkled from the living room TV. Take a cleansing breath through your nose at the start of each contraction, a woman’s voice instructed. "When you breathe out, chant the sounds hee, hee, hee. Let’s try it together."

    Hee, hee, hee, Meredith chanted.

    Aria stifled a groan. Meredith was five months pregnant, and she’d been watching Lamaze videos for the last hour, which meant Aria had learned about breathing techniques, birthing balls, and the evils of epidurals by osmosis.

    After a mostly sleepless night, Aria had called her father early that morning and asked if she could stay with them for a while. Then, before her mother, Ella, woke up, Aria packed some things in her floral-upholstered duffel from Norway and left. Aria wanted to avoid a confrontation. She knew her mother would be puzzled that Aria was choosing to live with her dad and his marriage-wrecking girlfriend, especially since Ella and Aria had finally repaired their relationship after Mona Vanderwaal (as A) had nearly destroyed it forever. Plus, Aria hated to lie, and it wasn’t like she could tell Ella the truth about why she was here. Your new boyfriend is kind of into me, and he’s convinced I want him, too, she imagined saying. Ella would probably never speak to her again.

    Meredith turned up the TV volume—apparently she couldn’t hear over her own hee breathing. More waves crashed. A gong sounded. You and your partner will learn ways to lessen the pain of natural childbirth and hasten the labor process, the woman instructor said. Some techniques include water immersion, visualization exercises, and letting your partner bring you to orgasm.

    Oh my God. Aria clapped her hands over her ears. It was a wonder she hadn’t spontaneously gone deaf.

    She looked down at the paper again. A headline was splashed across the front page. Where Is Ian Thomas? it asked.

    Good question, Aria thought.

    The events of last night throbbed in her mind. How could Ian’s dead body be in the woods one minute and gone the next? Had someone killed him and dragged his body away when they’d gone inside to find Wilden? Had Ian’s killer silenced him because he’d uncovered the huge secret he’d told Spencer about?

    Or maybe Wilden was right—Ian was injured, not dead, and had crawled away when they ran back to the house. But if that was what happened, then Ian was still…out there. She shivered. Ian despised Aria and her friends for getting him arrested. He might want revenge.

    Aria snapped on the little TV on the kitchen counter, eager for a distraction. Channel 6 was showing the cobbled-together reenactment of Ali’s murder—Aria had already seen it twice. She pressed the remote. On the next channel, the Rosewood chief of police was talking to some reporters. He wore a heavy, fur-lined navy blue jacket, and there were pine trees behind him. It looked as if he was giving an interview from the edge of Spencer’s woods. There was a big caption at the bottom of the screen that said, Ian Thomas Dead? Aria leaned forward, her heart speeding up.

    There are unsubstantiated reports that Mr. Thomas’s dead body was seen in these woods last night, the chief was saying. We have a great team assembled, and we began searching the woods at ten A.M. this morning. However, with all this snow…

    Kashi burbled in Aria’s stomach. She grabbed her cell phone off the little kitchen table and dialed Emily’s number. She answered immediately. Are you watching the news? Aria barked, in lieu of a hello.

    I just turned it on, Emily answered, her voice worried.

    Why do you think they waited until this morning to start searching? Wilden said he was going to get a squad together last night.

    Wilden also said something about procedure, Emily suggested in a small voice. Maybe it has something to do with that.

    Aria snorted. Wilden never seemed to care about procedure before.

    Wait, what are you saying? Emily sounded incredulous.

    Aria picked at a place mat one of Meredith’s friends had woven out of hemp. Almost twelve hours had passed since they’d seen Ian’s body, and a lot could happen in those woods between then and now. Someone could have cleared away evidence…or planted false leads. But the police—Wilden—had been careless with this entire case. Wilden hadn’t even had a suspect for Ali’s murder until Aria, Spencer, and the others handed them Ian’s head on a platter. He’d also somehow missed both when Ian broke out to visit Spencer and when he escaped on the day of his trial. According to Hanna, Wilden wanted Ian to fry as much as they did, but he hadn’t done a very good job of keeping him under lock and key.

    I don’t know, Aria finally answered. "But it is weird they’re just getting around to it now."

    Have you gotten any more A notes? Emily asked.

    Aria stiffened. No. You?

    No, but I keep thinking I’m going to get one at any minute.

    Who do you think the new A is? Aria asked. She had no theories whatsoever. Was it someone who wanted Ian dead, Ian himself, or someone else entirely? Wilden believed the texts were pranks from some random person in a whole other state. But A had taken incriminating photos of Aria and Xavier together last week, meaning A was here in Rosewood. A also knew about Ian’s body in the woods—all of them had gotten a note urging them to go find him. Why was A so desperate to show them Ian’s body—to scare them? To warn them? And when Hanna fell, she’d seen someone looming over her. What was the likelihood that someone else happened to be in those woods the exact same time as Ian’s body? There had to be a connection.

    I don’t know, Emily concluded. But I don’t want to find out.

    Maybe A is gone, Aria said, in the most hopeful voice she could manage.

    Emily sighed and said she had to go. Aria got up, poured a glass of acai berry juice Meredith had bought at the health food store, and rubbed her temples. Could Wilden have delayed the search on purpose? If so, why? He’d seemed so fidgety and uncomfortable last night, and then he’d walked off in the opposite direction of Spencer’s house. Maybe he was hiding something. Or maybe Emily was right—the delay was due to procedure. He was just a cop dutifully playing by the rules.

    It still baffled Aria that Wilden had become a cop, let alone a dutiful one. Wilden had been in Jason DiLaurentis and Ian’s year at Rosewood Day, and back then he’d been a troublemaker. The year Aria was in sixth and they were in eleventh, she often sneaked into the Upper School during her free periods to spy on Jason—she’d had such a painful crush on him, and sought him out every chance she got. For just a moment, she would gaze through the window of the wood-shop cottage as he sanded his homemade bookends, or swoon at his muscular legs as he ran up and down the soccer practice fields. Aria was always careful never to let anyone see her.

    But once, someone did.

    It was about a week into the school year. Aria had been watching Jason checking out books at the library from the hallway when she heard a click behind her. There was Darren Wilden, his ear pressed to the door of the lockers, slowly turning the dial. The locker opened, and Aria saw a heart-shaped mirror on the inside of the door and a box of Always maxi pads on the upper shelf. Wilden’s hand closed around a twenty-dollar bill wedged between two textbooks. Aria frowned, slowly processing what Wilden was doing.

    Wilden stood up and noticed her. He stared back, unapologetic. You’re not supposed to be here, he sneered. But I won’t tell…this time.

    When Aria looked at the TV again, there was a commercial on for a local furniture outlet store called The Dump. She stared at her phone on the table, realizing there was another phone call she had to make. It was almost eleven—Ella would certainly be awake.

    She dialed the number to her house. The phone rang once, then twice. There was a click, and someone said, Hello?

    Aria’s words got stuck in her throat. It was Xavier, her mother’s new boyfriend. Xavier sounded chipper and comfortable, completely at ease with answering the Montgomerys’ phone. Had he stayed overnight last night after the benefit? Ew.

    Hello? Xavier said again.

    Aria felt tongue-tied and skeeved out. When Xavier had approached Aria at the Rosewood Day benefit last night and asked if they could talk, Aria had assumed that he was going to apologize for kissing her a few days before. Only, apparently, in Xavier-speak, talk meant grope.

    After a few seconds of silence, Xavier breathed out. Is this Aria? he said, his voice slimy. Aria made a small squeak. There’s no need to hide, he teased. I thought we had an understanding.

    Aria hung up fast. The only understanding she and Xavier had was that if she warned Ella what kind of person Xavier was, Xavier would tell Ella that Aria had liked Xavier for a nanosecond. And that would ruin Aria and Ella’s relationship for good.

    Aria?

    Aria jumped and looked up. Her father, Byron, was standing above her, wearing a ratty Hollis T-shirt and sporting his typical just-rolled-out-of bed hairstyle.

    He sat down at the table next to her. Meredith, wearing a sari-style maternity dress and Birkenstocks, waddled in and leaned against the counter. We wanted to talk to you, Byron said.

    Aria folded her hands in her lap. They both looked so serious.

    First off, we’re going to have a baby shower for Meredith Wednesday night, Byron said. It’s going to be a little thing with some of our friends.

    Aria blinked. They had joint friends? That seemed impossible. Meredith was in her twenties, barely out of college. And Byron was…old.

    You can bring a friend if you want, Meredith added. "And don’t worry about getting

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